Faustine Steinmetz Takes The Look of Denim to Dazzling New Places

Parisian designer Faustine Steinmetz took a big step at her fledgling line this season: She sourced fabrics, predominantly from Cotton USA. “I normally always make my own textiles,” she laughed, “but, I can’t do that for when it’s over 100 pieces!”

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Photo: Courtesy of Faustine Steinmetz

To hear that she’s growing is encouraging: Bluntly, Steinmetz’s clothes are just plain cool. And, in tandem, they’re smart—this designer really thinks about her concepts, and toils over each and every seedling of an idea until it’s exactly right. Much of what she showed today illustrated that academic rigor, particularly with denim. One pair, for example, looked like your standard mid-tone wash. Observe longer, and you’d notice technologically manipulated, jagged stripes down the right thigh and across the back. Another pair was composed of brushed and pulled wool in place of denim cloth, contrast-piped in auburn yarn—“I wanted it to look like a painting,” said the designer. It takes a heck of an imagination to reinvent such basics as jeans, yet somehow, she pulled it off.

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Photo: Courtesy of Faustine Steinmetz

“It’s the combination of something unique and something everyday,” she added, as a model with expressive dashes of paint in her hair walked by. Her sentiment invokes a proposal; why not, even when dressing up in the “everyday”—jeans, T-shirts, sports bras, sneakers, etc.—try to make it special? We’re digging the Steinmetz formula.